The truth is, only to a player of real organs does the drawbar issue really matter. If you never got used to real drawbars, it doesn't really matter WHAT is used to change registrations, as long as it can be done quickly and accurately. Only purists and players raised on Hammonds really understand how to get the most from the drawbars.

And I say this as one who grew up playing Hammonds and other organs. To be honest, although the sliders are OK on the Rolands, they don't move or feel like the real thing, so it's still a step away from the real thing. I always worry about breaking them if I slap them around like you can a real B3....

I think that using a volume pedal with the right taper is FAR more important to getting a good organ sound than authentic drawbars, and I am amazed at how many clone-wheel and arranger 'organ' players out there don't use one....

As to the 'cheez' factor, arrangers are only as cheesy as the styles put in them. I have always said that if you took out ALL the ballroom and oldies styles, packed it with styles that sound like stuff on the charts NOW (not 20 years or more ago) arrangers would be the most popular keyboard on the planet.

But while the majors keep stuffing them with styles that are mostly only appropriate in a nursing-home gig, no young player is going to want to play one. And they, bless their little tattooed backsides, feel the same way, as far as I can tell.

The sad fact is that most modern TOTL arrangers can have their entire style memory changed around at will. Even the so-called ROM styles. So, why on earth don't Roland or Yamaha take a T2 or G70, ditch ALL the old styles, pack it with new, cutting edge styles (the programmers for the hip arps in the TOTL workstations should have no problem developing 'styles' that the modern player likes, why not co-opt THEM into making styles for the market?) and re-brand it as the G70 EXTREME or T2 Dominator!?

90% of all the workstation users would MUCH prefer to have an arranger, if only it SOUNDED like the TOTL workstations. Yamaha are starting to see the light with the MotifXS, but you still have to jump through workstation hoops rather than the ease of arranger operation. Far better (and easier) to take an existing arranger, and just develop styles for it that wouldn't embarrass a twenty-something hipster....